TRAVELLERS

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Emergency powers will help villages in Derbyshire to take action against travellers, setting up illegal camps. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has promised that by the end of 2004, local councils will have powers to order an immediate stop for travellers building camps in fields, even if they own the site. These new powers also coincide with an ongoing investigation by a committee of MPs, into the problem of people settling on illegal sites in the county. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's (ODPM) select committee is to take evidence from Siobhan Spencer, co-ordinator of Derbyshire Gypsy and Traveller Liaison Group.

The committee aims to publish a report on traveller sites, to advise the Government on what permanent legislative steps it should take. Under the new temporary emergency measures by the ODPM, the Government aims to combat the growing problem of travellers buying fields from farmers or landowners, with the sole intention of inviting others to settle there. Due to a loophole in the law, if the travellers own the land then councils cannot evict them. But now, under the new powers, a council will be able to place temporary "stop notices" on a site, preventing travellers from putting caravans on hard-standings, or making other developments that would damage the land, pending a planning inquiry.

The powers do not allow for evictions but will stop any further development of the site while eviction notices are prepared. MP for South Derbyshire Mark Todd said it was vital the ODPM recommends tougher powers, to allow the swift removal of travellers from illegally setting up encampments. Mr Todd said South Derbyshire District Council had recently spent approximately £80,000 pounds, over a period of just a few months, trying to put up barriers to prevent travellers from repeatedly returning to illegal sites in Willington and just outside Foston.

Two current legal traveller sites already exist in Foston and Lullington but many travellers choose to illegally set up camp elsewhere. He said, "I believe that, where it's responsible to do so, we should give consent for developers to set up their own site. But we need to balance that with a robust response to illegal occupations, and the significant environmental damage this brings." Recently, Derbyshire Dales District Council moved away an illegal camp from Uttoxeter Road, in Foston. One Foston resident, who asked not to be named, said, "The thing I object to most is the cost of clearing up afterwards. I am pleased about them getting moved off but it is sad that Derbyshire has so many travellers." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

Siobhan Spencer, co-ordinator of Derbyshire Gypsy Traveller Liason Group, said that because of the lack of adequate sites provided for them, the gypsy community was being criminalised by being forced to form illegal encampments. Labour MP for South Derbyshire, Mark Todd, said one of the main reasons travellers did not get licences for new legal sites was because communities behaved so badly and left so much mess on illegal and legal encampments. He said, "It has long been accepted that travellers choose to occupy sites which are not legal. But what becomes unacceptable is what travellers do when they get there, in other words, their behaviour on the site itself.

This often involves travellers dumping a great deal of waste on the site like dead animals or excrement, and then passing straight on to another site to do it all over again." Mark Todd claimed that a growing number of people have abandoned their fixed homes and become gypsies to dodge taxes. Mr Todd said the rising number of gypsies in Britain is partly due to some of the community's disreputable intentions and said he would welcome any Government provision for more gypsy sites, as long as tax collection was enforced, and the traveller community kept them clean.

He said, "Some of the people involved do not pay tax, national insurance and so on. If you are to provide additional official sites, you must therefore ensure that the traveller community pay the same taxes as other people. More people are choosing what they regard as an alternative lifestyle which is free from the regulations and interests of the tax man and local authorities, and so on." Mr Todd added, "The travelling way of life has long been accepted in south Derbyshire, but there are frequent cases of abuse, where people's properties are occupied illegally and trashed, and rubbish is dumped all over it. So, with increased provision must come increased social responsibility."

Gipsies get away with wrecking the countryside because they are being handed pathetic fines. While householders dropping a single sweet wrapper are stung with £50 penalties, travellers can drive away laughing from mountains of filth. Even when they are caught they escape with a virtual slap on the wrist. In one case three gispies were caught on CCTV ditching EIGHT TONS of rubbish on a road at the end of a three-day stay. Dumpers can be jailed for six months and ordered to pay £20,000, yet these were fined a total of just £290. Senior council officials in Wakefield, West Yorks, said they were “very disappointed” at the fines, including one of £40, imposed by the city’s magistrates.

One official said, “Community support wardens hand out fixed penalty tickets of £50 or so for people dropping wrappers in the street. Yet these three gipsies got fines ranging from just £40 to £150. “It is absolutely absurd. No wonder people think there is one rule for the travellers and another for everyone else.” In Murston, near Sittingbourne, Kent, travellers left a trail of refuse. A group of 14 caravans arrived just before Christmas. Within days tyres were burned on graves, a baby buggy hung from a tree, piles of rubbish were dumped around the village and large gas canisters and fridges littered fields. (Source: The Sun)

Gipsies who have been ordered to leave their illegal camp were suspected of a late night revenge attack in which the cars of two prominent campaigners against the site were wrecked. Julia Tibbs and Hilary Harris, who share a terrace cottage adjacent to the site in the Somerset village of North Curry, appealed to police for protection after a Toyota 4x4 crashed through their five-bar wooden gate and repeatedly rammed their Peugeot 206 cars. The cars were struck with such force that one of them was shunted into a hedge, while the other was battered into Miss Tibbs's photographic studio. Insurance engineers were yesterday examining the vehicles, which appeared to be write-offs. The attack happened hours after a planning inspector had ruled that the gipsies must leave the site within 12 months. John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, had backed the decision.

John Williams, the Conservative leader of the local Taunton Deane council, said, "The people who perpetrated this do not deserve to belong to a civilised society. It is appalling. It is not just Julia and Hilary that have suffered from a direct assault, it is the ripple of fear that will pass out into the whole community." The gipsies bought the field at auction, and carefully co-ordinated an "occupation" of the site. Over a weekend, they turned it into a camp, with roads, fencing, septic tanks, and a children's play area. It was the first time that gipsies had adopted the tactic of setting up camp after council offices had closed for the weekend, and then applying for retrospective planning permission. Up to 50 gipsies moved on to the site, which they named Greenacres for postal deliveries. Their rubbish is now picked up and the children attend local schools.

Residents had complained that the gipsies' actions had "suddenly and rudely" interrupted 900 years of peace in the village. Taunton Deane borough council refused the gipsies permission to stay and the planning inspector upheld the decision. The garden of Miss Tibbs and Miss Harris is separated from the field only by a small hedge. The close proximity of the cottage was cited as one of the reasons for the rejection. The pair once enjoyed sweeping views over the Somerset Levels. But the inspector said their "visual amenities were reduced to a level far below that which ought to be reasonably expected." Jake Bowers, for the Romany Gipsies Council, said there was no evidence to suggest gipsies were behind the attack, and claimed it may have been an accident. He added, “It would be foolish for gipsies to do this. We don’t behave in this way.” (Source: The Telegraph)

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